Play only the audio of a video podcast on the iPhone
Feb 26, '08 07:30:03AM • Contributed by: Anonymous

I thought something was wrong with my brand new iPhone. I went into the Podcasts section and played a video podcast I had subscribed to. I was dismayed to see a still image from the video while the audio played along merrily.

It turns out that you get audio only if you access a video podcast through the Podcast section. If you access it through the Video section, though, you get both audio and video. The Apple rep I spoke to said this is to conserve battery life if you don't actually need to watch the video while you're exercising. I'm glad to know my iPhone isn't broken. Now I just have to figure out what this "exercise" thing he mentioned is all about.

Play only the audio of a video podcast on the iPhone
Authored by: superg on Feb 26, '08 09:08:35AM

The regular iPod works the same way (at least mine did) If I went to Podcasts, I could listen to the audio from a video podcast. I had to go to Video Podcasts to actually see it. It's nice to have both options.

Play only the audio of a video podcast on the iPhone
Authored by: zane on Feb 26, '08 05:13:58PM

I consider this more an annoyance/bug than a 'feature'. I don't know how many times I've instinctively gone to "Podcasts" to play a video podcast only to have the iPod stall for a good 10-15 seconds and only play the audio, then stall again when I try to back out and play the video properly (perhaps the processor is slower on the 5/5.5G video iPods).

Ideally, if you go to Podcasts>A_Video_Podcast, the OS should be smart enough to know you've chosen a video podcast and play it as a video accordingly. If Apple wants to include a "play audio only" feature, then there should be an explicit "play audio only" option. The implied method as described in the hint is counter-intuitive.

Play only the audio of a video podcast on the iPhone
Authored by: YoCraig on Feb 27, '08 04:38:57PM

This is an old "feature" of all the video iPods I've owned. While I can see some utility in playing only the audio of a video podcast, there should be some other way of doing that. You should not have to go through "Videos" to actually see video podcasts.